Morningstar | Thomson Reuters Completes the Divestiture of Its Financial & Risk Business; Shares Fairly Valued
Narrow-moat Thomson Reuters announced the completion of its divestiture of 55% of its Financial & Risk business to the private equity firm Blackstone on Aug. 28. The announcement confirms what we already knew or largely have been expecting. The only new piece of information is that the company’s tender offer will be conducted between $42 per share and $47, commencing immediately on Aug. 28 and concluding on Oct. 2. Unfortunately for Thomson Reuters' remaining shareholders, shares in Thomson Reuters have rallied more than 10% over the last six months meaning the deal and large share repurchase will no longer be as accretive. The $42 to $47 range for the tender offer is modestly higher than we anticipated. Despite the higher price, the higher repurchase price will have an immaterial impact to our fair value estimate of $46 per share. Currently, we think the stock is fairly valued and think the divestiture makes good strategic sense. Thomson’s financial data business is broken, and now it’s somebody else’s problem to fix.We’ll also remind shareholders that even though Thomson Reuters is selling 55% of its share of the business, the new entity is issuing a large amount of debt to pay Thomson Reuters a dividend. Given this large return of capital, in our minds, Thomson Reuters is really divesting 85% or more of this business. Going forward, we expect the performance at the new joint venture with Blackstone to continue to deteriorate. It’s hard for us to see how adding a large amount of debt will help a business that’s already ailing.
Thomson Reuters provides source of news and information. Co. operates three business: Financial & Risk, a provider of news, information and analytics, enabling transactions and connecting communities of trading, investment, financial and corporate professionals, as well as a provider of regulatory and operational risk management solutions; Legal, a provider of online and print information, decision tools, software and services that support legal, investigation, business and government professionals; and Tax & Accounting, a provider of integrated tax compliance and accounting information, software and services for professionals in accounting firms, corporations, law firms and government.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offer an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors.
Morningstar provides data on approximately 530,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 18 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries and had approximately $185 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2016.
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